Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/604

556 NORTHAMPTON from Buckingham. The Grand Junction Canal, which is connected with the Oxford Canal, enters the county at Braunston on the borders of Warwickshire and passes by Daventry and Blisworth into Buckinghamshire, a branch connecting it with Northampton. The Grand Union Canal unites with the Grand Junction near Daventry and runs north until it joins the Leicester Canal at Foxton, branches passing to Welford and Market Harborough. Geology. Lias forms the foundation of Northampton shire, and above it rest the Oolite formations which crop to the surface throughout the greater part of the county. Lias prevails as the surface formation in the west and north-west. Its total thickness is about 800 feet, the Lower Lias clays which stretch in from Warwickshire having a thickness of 500 to 600 feet, the Middle Lias or marlstone of about 30 feet, and the Upper Lias clays, which form numerous outliers scattered over the marl- stone plateau and also appear along the beds of several of the streams, a thickness of from 150 to 200 feet. Imme diately above the lias come the inferior Oolite beds of Northamptonshire sand, which reach their greatest thick ness in the neighbourhood of Northampton. The sandstone is strongly impregnated with oxide of iron, supposed to have been deposited by the percolations of water through the stone. Brown hsematite iron is also found at Adding- ton. The iron of Northamptonshire was made use of by the Romans, but the rise of the modern industry dates from about 1850. In 1881 iron was worked at thirty different places in the county, the total quantity obtained being 1,270,544 tons with an estimated value of 176,427. About one-fourth is smelted in the district, but the greater quantity is sent raw to Merthyr-Tydfil and Staffordshire. East and north-east of the county sandstone is largely quarried for building purposes, and is both easily worked and richly coloured. It is highly fossiliferous, containing many species not known in other districts. The upper division consists of a nearly white silicious sandstone frequently intercalated with clay. Above the sandstone rest beds of Lincolnshire limestone, and, where it is absent, a sandy clay. The slopes of the hills are frequently capped with cornbrash, sometimes overlaid with Oxford clay. Various isolated portions are covered with drift deposits. Where sandstone and limestone join the clay numerous springs occur, the proximity to which has in many cases determined the sites of villages and towns. Soil and Agriculture. The climate of Northamptonshire is mild and genial, while the absence of lofty hills renders it much drier than many other inland districts. The prevailing soil is a rich brown but light and crumbling mould, sometimes with a rocky subsoil. The richest soil is the black mould of the fen district, which is specially suited for grass, as are all the heavier soils. Nearly all the land is capable of cultivation, although there is some stiff wet soil on the slopes of the hills. In 1883 there were 559,536 acres, or about 88 per cent, of the total area under culti vation, of which no fewer than 304,654 acres were under permanent pasture, many of the heavier soils having been laid down during the past few years. Leases are the exception, and on this account grass land is more in re quest than arable. The farms in general are not large. Isolated houses are rare, both farmers and labourers living for the most part in villages. The farm buildings are thus frequently inconveniently situated as well as badly con structed, although improvements in both respects are being introduced. The usual rotation of crops is fallow, wheat, beans, and oats on heavy soils ; but on the lighter soils wheat, pease or barley, with clover and roots, on a four or five years rotation is the system generally adopted. Fre quently the land is left three years in grass. Of the 158,445 acres under corn crops in 1883, 59,613 were under wheat, 50,866 under barley or berc, 24,914 under oats, 16,770 beans, and 6121 pease. Green crops occupied only 38,143 acres, 23,923 of these being under turnips and swedes, 4894 under mangolds, and only 2520 under pota toes. Clover occupied 34,137 acres, and fallow 24,157. Horses in 1883 numbered 21,901, of which 16,209 were used solely for agricultural purposes. Cattle numbered 117,790, of which 26,036 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf, the fattening of cattle being the chief occupa tion of the Northamptonshire farmer. The favourite stock for breeding purposes is the shorthorn, which has now almost entirely superseded the longhorn ; but the most common custom is to buy in Hereford, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish cattle in the spring and fatten them off the rich pasture with or without artificial food, a few being retained and fed up for the Christmas market. In autumn addi tional cattle are bought in to eat the coarse grass off the pastures, and these are usually retained during winter. Sheep in 1883 numbered 413,075, of which 255,737 were one year old and above. The most common breed on the rich pastures is the improved Leicester, which is preferred on account of its length of wool ; but the Southdown, on account of its superior flesh, is also largely kept. According to the latest returns tlie land was divided among 14,665 proprietors, possessing 592,771 acres, with a gross estimated rental of 1,637,370, an average of about 2 15s. 3d per acre. Of the owners 10,010, or about 79 per cent., possessed less than one acre each; 33 proprietors possessed between 2000 and 5000 acres, 11 between 5000 and 10,000, and the following over 10,000 each: Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam, 18,116 ; duke of Buccleuch, 17,965 ; Earl Spencer, 17,031 ; Lord Overstone, 15,046 ; and the marquis of Exeter, 13,546. Manufactures. The iron industry is of great importance, and, though only a small proportion of the metal is smelted in the county, the number of furnaces in blast is increasing. The staple and the only manufacture of importance is that of boots and shoes, which is chiefly carried on in Northampton and the towns and villages in the centre of the county and along the eastern border. Railways. The main lines of the London and North- Western, the Great Northern, and the Midland Railways pass through portions of the county, and branch lines traverse it in all directions. Administration and Population. In Domesday Northampton is mentioned as containing 30 hundreds, but it then included a considerable part of Rutlandshire. These divisions were first re duced to 28, and in the reign of Henry II. to 20, their present number. The county includes the municipal boroughs of Daventry (3859) and Northampton (51,881); the principal part (20,123) of the city of Peterborough, which was incorporated under the Muni cipal Act in 1874 ; part (1171) of the borough of Stamford, of which the greater part is in Lincolnshire ; part (2412) of the borough of Banbury, the greater part of which is in Oxfordshire ; the borough of Higham- Ferrers (1468); and the urban sanitary districts of Hard- ingstone (4866), Kettering (11,095), Oundle (11,196), and Welling- borough (13,794). Before the Reform Act of 1832 Northampton shire sent nine members to parliament, two for the shire, two each for the city of Peterborough and the boroughs of Northampton and Brackley, and one for the borough of Higham -Ferrers. By that Act the number was fixed at eight, Brackley and Higham - Ferrers being disfranchised, while the county was formed into two divisions, a northern and a southern, each returning two members. There arc two courts of quarter-sessions, one for the county and the other for the liberty or soke of Peterborough, and nine petty and special sessional divisions, exclusive of the liberty of Peterborough. The boroughs of Northampton and Stamford have commissions of the peace and separate courts of quarter -sessions. The boroughs of Daventry and Higham-Ferrers form parts of the petty and special sessional divisions of Daventry and Wellingborough, the county justices having concurrent jurisdiction. The county contains 344 civil parishes, with parts of four others. It is almost entirely in the diocese of Peterborough. The population of Northamptonshire in 1801 was 131,757, which in 1821 had increased to 162,483, in 1871 to 243,891, and in 1881 to 272,555 (135,662 males and 136,8913 females). The number of inhabited houses in 1881 was 57,540, and the average number of persons to an acre 43. History and Antiquities. The Coritani, who at the time of the Roman invasion inhabited Northamptonshire, are supposed to have been dependent on the Iceni. Of this period the only remains are a few traces of camps and earthworks, the principal being those at Borough Hill near Daventry, where some rude pottery of supposed British origin has been discovered ; at Arbury Hill near Staverton ; and at Rockingham, on the site of the present old castle. Under